I'll Find You
by AmiaMermaid
Summary: Kevin is a normal teenage boy.  Totally devestated after the girl disappears.  Candy is a princess of the Hereafter engaged to the Crowned Prince of Midnight.  And these two have a background together.
1. Kevin

**Alright, so you all can call me the worst writer in the world, simply because I don't update. Well, I'm trying to be better! I promise! **

_**So this is something that I promised you all a long time ago!**_

_The Sea?__ We're in Minnesota. The closest thing we have is the Great Lakes. _But, sure enough, Kevin's dirt bike paused at the water's edge. The say was hot, Kevin wasn't going home soon so he figured he'd take a dip.

Kevin had no idea why he was so comfortable with stepping into the water. He sat in the shallows, basking, before swimming further. Sitting there reminded him of _her_, for whatever reason. Her mysterious disappearance, how different everything was without her. Mysterious like the water he paddled around in. He looked at the shore, his bike, his jeans, sweatshirt seemed so far away. The tide was going out taking Kevin with it.

As much as he tried, he couldn't paddle out of the water. It was as if it was alive and taking him somewhere.

"How could I be so trusting?" Kevin shouted at the shore. "What was I thinking?" He drifted bitterly. A smile adorned his lips, and he laid back on the water, bobbing along. "I'm dreaming." The sun felt good as he bobbed along. He was trying to figure out the meaning of it.

Of course, there were lots of explanations. Maybe his inner-self wanted out of Chickentown. Or maybe it was a vision, of where the girl had disappeared to. It took a while for him to realize the sun was moving East across the sky. He straightened himself in the water. _No, _he thought, _this isn't anything special. __Another part of the dream._

"Ouy!" A voice behind him shouted. He thrashed in a violent circle. A small ship drifted few feet away. "What are ya doin' boy?" You'll get yerself killed!"

"Killed?" Kevin asked confused, "I'm dreaming."

"Boy, I don't know what you're thinking." The man pulled him into the boat. It reeked of old fish as Kevin sat on the deck.

"Where are ya headed?" A young woman asked. He turned around, and she blushed. Kevin was only in his shorts and realized how he must have looked.

"Nowhere, the water-"

"No, m'boy, you always have somewhere to go with Mama Izabella on your side."

"Mama Izabella?" Kevin asked, standing. He lent over the railing.

"Don't you go jumping in that there water again." The man said putting a hand on Kevin's shoulder. The shore that he had dreamt away was out of sight.

"Where are we going now?" The girl asked.

"We are sill going to Yabba Dim Day." Her father replied, slightly perturbed. "If you wanna see Piper that badly, tell him he needs to come see you."

"Dad that's not fair!" The girl had long blonde hair and dressed simply, a tee-shirt and cut off jeans. She wasn't any older than Kevin. "You made him come last time. Why can't we go to him for once?"

"Because I don't like him." Kevin felt very awkward sitting during this conversation between father and daughter. He didn't continue to listen. He stared at the horizon. No matter how long they traveled, the sun never seemed to move. A large head rose out of the distance.

"It's beautiful isn't it?" The girl folded her arms leaning on the railing.

"What is it?" Kevin asked turning his green eyes to her.

"Yabba Dim Day." She answered as if it was plain as day. "It's the Hour of Eight in the Morning."

"What's where you're going isn't it?" Kevin asked.

"Yeah. I'm HayLyn by the way."

"Kevin," He replied. "Who's Piper?"

"A dear, dear friend." Her voice was dreamy, rather far away.

"Where is he?" Kevin asked.

"He's on a boat in the Midnight Hours."

"Midnight hours?"

"There are twenty-five hours. Each an island. Legend says it's like the hours in a day in the Hereafter."

Kevin was utterly confused. "The Hereafter?"

"I don't know how to describe it, Kevin. It's a place opposite that of the Abarat. It's were humans live, that's what they call themselves."

"I'm human," Kevin replied, "What's the-"

"You're human?" HayLyn asked, her voice filled with curiosity and fear.

"Yes, well, does that mean I'm from the Hereafter?" HayLyn nodded.

"What does that mean?"

"It means you aren't of that Abarat."

"Which is?"

"Here." Kevin nodded, slightly understanding.

"Boy, do you know how to land?" The captain barked. Kevin was caught off guard and jumped. HayLyn nodded. "Your gunna find your way into the mouth ova sea creature if your makin' moves on ma daughter!"

"No sir, I don't know how to land. No sir, I'm not hitting on your daughter!"

"Hitting? You hit girls?" HayLyn asked.

"Uh, flirting?" Kevin rephrased. HayLyn shook her head. "Nevermind. I don't physically hit girls, it's an expression." HayLyn shrugged her shoulders and turned to help her father land.

Kevin watched all the quick moving fisherman pull there goods onto wagons. Someone came from behind him and threw him into the water. The water was freezing and horrifying with all the boats coming near him.

"I won't have a boy from the Hereafter near my daughter! Get and don't come back!" The captain was shouting over the railing. He could see HayLyn's blonde hair whipping in the wind.

He swam quickly and as carefully as possible to the shore. He sat dripping wet, the wind was cold as it blew. A newspaper blew across his lap. He looked at the photo on the front page. His heart began to quick every other beat as it moved quickly in his chest. The headline read '**CORONATION RUMORED TO LEAD TO PURPOSAL!**'

There was the blue and brown eyed girl he'd been looking for.


	2. The Coronation

**I'm on a roll! Two chapters, three updates in one day! Whatever will people do with themselves?**

_**This is what Candy is up to while Kevin is finding his way to the Hereafter!**_

"Are you nervous?" Candy went into Letheo's room closing the door behind her. After Letheo reported Vol's plan to take over the scurrubs and take Midnight, Carrion had completely healed the Beast within. Now, he was a very upstanding young man.

He looked up at her with a raised eyebrow. "What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be getting ready?" Didn't Carrion tell you not to come to my room without a chaperone?"

"I'm here to make you feel better. I am ready. My chaperone is standing outside." Candy answered. "Do you have any more questions or can I make you feel better now?"

"Sorry," Letheo replied. "Yeah, I'm nervous."

Candy nodded. "I look funny."

"You look funny?" Letheo scoffed. "_I_ look funny! I feel like I'm going to a costume party." Candy pouted sitting on a chair. She was wearing an old fashioned ball gown. The type of thing a princess would wear to her Prince's Coronation.

"You look great." Candy smiled at Letheo's compliment. She watched as he combed his hair out of his face, and tied it back. "Make me a promise." Candy said looking at his reflection.

"I've made you lots of promises, is there one in particular?"

"After Carrion passes on, please don't wear the nightmare collar."

"Do you think we'll be together that long?" Letheo asked, buttoning his cuffs.

Candy shrugged her shoulders. "I only ask so because all your hair will fall out." Candy replied with a grin.

"Is that why you love me? Because of my hair?" Letheo asked, turning to her.

"No, you've got great abs. That's why." Candy winked. "I love you, because you love me. You did some things that no one ever did for me."

"Ms. Candy, Carrion needs to speak to Letheo." Her chaperone said, poking her head in through the door.

"Candy, I must commend you on getting around my no Letheo in Room rule." Carrion said walking in.

"Christopher, before I go, why must I have to wear this?" Candy asked tripping over one of many petticoats.

"Because, you'll understand why later." Candy frowned in reply and made her way to the huge ballroom. Thousands of chairs were set up for Letheo's Coronation. Some people had been sitting for hours, others, not as long. She turned to the library and read for nearly an hour before Carrion appeared.

"Candy, you're due downstairs." He said. "Come one." She stood and gathered the layers into her arms. "How do you feel about Letheo's advancement?"

"I'm proud of him. And I'm ever indebted to you." Candy said. "Thank you. He talks about you all the time. He wants to be accepted by you, and now he is."

"That's funny," Carrion murmured. "All he does is talk about _you_, and how he wants to be accepted by _you_."

"Why would he worry about that?" Candy asked. "I love him. How much more accepted can you get than that?"

Carrion laughed. _How much more accepted can you get?_ They walked down the red carpet together. Candy took her seat in the first row, on the left, right along the carpet.

Carrion stood up.

"Today, I would like to present my heir to you." Carrion blarred. "He risked his own life to save not just my and Candy's life, but the whole of our beloved Abarat and Hereafter. Letheo of Gorgossium was found at the humble age of fourteen wandering the Todo Mines. Now, he is the future ruler of the Night Hours."

Trumpets welcomed Letheo as he slowly made his way down the carpet. His shirt was navy blue and much too starched. His hands were white, and black boots to his knee. The cape was red and tracked as he walked.

"The crown?" Carrion reached for the gold band. "Letheo, please bend on one knee."

Letheo smirked at Carrion, who returned the facial expression. "Letheo of Gorgossium, by the Gods of our Hours, I give you the strength to guide the Hours well. I give you the ability to discern right from wrong." A heavy oil was rubbed across his forehead and the crown slipped across his forehead.

"My fellow citizens. My friends, family, and neighbors! I wish to thank two people. The first is Christopher Carrion, the Lord of Midnight. If he had never found me as a humble child, I wouldn't be before you today. He's taught me in all the trades a leader of today should know, magic, power, and most of all how to make good decisions. The second person I'd like to thank is Candy Quakenbush of the Hereafter. She was brought here by 'accident,' but has shown me how to be the person that I want to be. That was not by 'accident.'

"Carrion told me there was one thing he wished he could have had as a leader. Something that slipped away from him by a combination of things. However, he told me that once I had it, to not let it go."

Letheo stepped off the stand and walked toward Candy. He reached into his pocket and returned to one knee.

"Candy." Letheo whispered. "Carrion missed out on love, on having some one beside him to help him make life altering decisions. Mostly because he was too afraid to reach out his hand and snatch it before someone else could. Candy, I don't want to snatch you, I want to give you a choice. Candy Quakenbush, coveted girl of the Hereafter, will you be the person beside me to help me make those decisions? Will you marry me?"

A black ring box was whipped out of his pocket. A silver band with diamonds beautifully encrusted in it. The room held it's breath, a pin, even, was too afraid to fall and break the silence. Candy looked, surprised, into Letheo's quivering, sweaty face. Carrion smiled at the look on her face, seeing the smart remark already formulating in her mind.

"If, and only if, you make me laugh everyday, for the rest of our lives." He slipped the ring on her finger and though he was the new Crowned Prince, kissed her. He removed his crown and placed it on her head, before kissing her yet again.


End file.
